ESPN's Buster Olney writes today that some executives believe $40MM is the unofficial budget floor MLB and the union would like to see from teams. As such, the Crisp signing may allow the A's to avoid a slap on the wrist. Including projected salaries for Crisp, Brandon McCarthy, and Joey Devine, the A's appear to have about $33MM in commitments to 11 players.

I am hoping the Nats could sign either Ludwick or Spilbourghs. If Werth could play center I think either of them could hold down the other corner spot until Harper is ready to start and afterwards be useful off the bench.

He’s fortunate to have ever stepped foot on a field and played at anything close to a major league level. HE was never a power hitter even in AZ, but he raked plenty of doubles and had by far, the best platedisciplne/eye on that team.

Last year everyone was saying the A’s were on the verge of contending, but now they are trading or have traded all their talent to start over. This is why I don’t buy the “build for the future” b.s. from some of these teams. That “build through the farm and compete in 5 years” is usually just an excuse to not spend money and try to win.

They did appear to be on the verge of contending. And this time last year, I guarantee that they never thought they’d be rebuilding again right now. But between countless injuries, key players underperforming, free agents avoiding Oakland like the plague, and the fact that the franchise lost money in 2011, what else can they do but rebuild again and pray that they’re finally in a new ballpark in 2015?

Please no. I think Ross would have made sense if they weren’t able to get Crisp back. And Jackson would be okay on a minor league deal. But I have zero interest in Ludwick.

The A’s outfield seems like it’s as good as it’s gonna get, at this point in the offseason. So I wish they’d just drastically overpay for a high-risk/high-reward pitcher in order to meet their revenue sharing requirements, and then spend whatever else they can on international free agency.

It would definitely be something of a miracle to see Oswalt agree to sign with the A’s. But who knows? If they offer him $13-14M, and his next best offer is closer to $10M, he may decide to take the $13-14M.

It also doesn’t hurt that he’d be playing in a pitcher’s paradise. Plus he knows that he’d most likely be flipped to a contender before August.

Soler’s actually been at the very top of my wish list ever since I first started reading about him. Hopefully they’ll submit an incredibly high bid for him. I’ve got a feeling that kid’s gonna be a pretty special player in a few years.

this this and this, although i’m pretty sure there’s at best a .01% chance of them signing cespedes.

i would love for them to sign soler, save any money they can to throw at them. sadly though, i wouldn’t put it past lew wolff to say “we couldn’t afford soler because of the money allocated to resigning coco crisp”.

I actually think they’ve got a pretty good shot at him. Beane has said that part of the reason why payroll will be reduced is so they can invest more heavily in international free agency. And between having the top bid for Michael Ynoa, having the the second highest bid for Aroldis Chapman, and having the top bid for the rights to negotiate with Hisashi Iwakuma, they’ve already proven that they’re not afraid to heavily invest in that market.